where the lines overlap
by therainydaykids
Summary: In which Jack wonders if it's possible to lose something that was never really yours to begin with. JxK KxM JxE JxP JxA JxMa. Rated T for sexual references. TVS: Loss.


where the lines over lap.

**Summary: **Jack wonders if it's possible to lose something that was never really yours to begin with. JxK KxM JxE JxP JxA JxMa.

Contest entry with the theme as** loss.**

_(i)._

He's been in Mineral Town a month when he sees her; all hips swaying and an array of tumbling gold flecked hair and sparkling green eyes. He's beyond the realms of smitten by their first conversation.

"Hey, you're Jack right?" She chimes, biting on her lower lip and staring up at him through mascara dipped lashes.

"Yeah, it's nice to officially meet you Karen."

"Ohh you know my name. Been talking about me have you? She replies, all smiles and teasing banter.

"Don't flatter yourself, I just asked Duke who the pretty girl at the bar was." He cocks an eyebrow before continuing "although now it seems that was a bit of an understatement."

Giggles spill from her lips like champagne as she slurs "C'mon new guy, let's see what you're made off. Have a drink with me."

One drink turns into two, and two into three and three into four and well you get the gist. It's 11 o'clock when Doug kicks the squealing pair out of the bar muttering something along the lines of _kids_ and _no respect._ They ignore him.

"Come to the beach with me?" She asks and as if he could refuse any request coming from her lips. So he follows her and he realizes he'd follow her anywhere if she asked.

He's not sure if it's the moon ricocheting of her or just his own vision coming into sharper focus but ohgod she _shines _and he wonders why she hasn't gone all supernova on him and exploded into a million fractured shards already. He also thinks it's cruel because she's spun in perfection and there's no way they belong together.

"You've been thinking about kissing me all night haven't you?" She calls out all siren-esque as the waves swirl around her feet and flirt with her body.

He waits until his feet are immersed in water and not sand before he replies; "And what makes you say that?"

"Call it in intuition."

"Or arrogance."

"Ouch, would you like to suck out my soul now that you've broken my heart?" She says with an unfazed laugh.

He has wanted to kiss her (of course) and decides in the end that actions speak louder than words and catches her surprised, red shimmery glossed lips in his. It's all a tangle of lips and teeth and tongues and _ohmygod _he's so much more experienced than Rick.

He didn't know (but really he should have) that Karen was a hopeless case of romantic. She wanted the guy that would make 'love' with her and not make her moan with pleasure against the walls of the barn or on his kitchen floor. But more so she wanted a family and a white picket fence and a husband who would kiss her cheek every night. She wanted everything Jack wasn't offering.

She finds it in Rick, her best friend and Jack watches her go knowing that time wouldn't heal this wound. Rick lets her shine too, he realizes, unlike him who always tried to keep up with the girl who would always shine a million times brighter then him (and the rest of the world for that matter).

And in the end shining is all stars want.

(ii)

He first sees Elli like _that _at the Goddess festival. She's all angel looking with a white goddess dress pooled at her feet that sets her skin on fire. She's glowing and it's magnetic to his eyes and now he's gotten himself all hooked on her. He gets a lot more 'injuries' after that and she suddenly takes a lot longer to heal them.

He's 'asleep' when she tentatively presses his lips to his forehead for the first time although the smile toying on his lips breaks the facade. She's one second from having bustled out the door when he murmurs all velvety "Come back here you."

And she does, and he kisses her like a proper kiss should be (which is _not _on the forehead).

They're out at the Inn celebrating their three month anniversary and the candle light skips and hops across Elli's face so she looks enchanting and ethereal and like the goddess she is.

"You know Jack and I used to like _do it _all the time!" Karen's words come tumbling out of drunken, messy lips and then there's this silence that's almost louder than an inn full of chatter and clinkity-clink of fork meeting plate.

Elli breaks it, her face fire truck red and stammering and all _well that was a little unnecessary wasn't it?_

Jack mouths "I love you." to her because at that moment he does and he's only ever worried about today, and not forever because forever has sparkling green eyes not doe brown ones.

And apparently, Elli's forever has a completely different face as well and he watches three quarters sad and one quarter relieved as she trades his impish smiles for stoic ones.

It was Trent all along, he laments one night over a wine that's sweet and tangy and reminds him of Karen's lips. He was just hiding behind books and stilted kisses and Jack was just (metaphorically speaking) 'keeping the seat warm' until Trent was ready.

(iii)

The bubble gum smacking girl with the matching hair wears this _mask. _She pretends to be bubblybubbly like fizzy drink and naive and childlike when really she's got the weight of the world and more on her fragile shoulders.

He remembers the day she opened up to him and let her secrets stumble out of unsure lips "I don't want to always be _that _girl whose always cheerful Jack. I have bad days too, when I miss my Dad so much it hurts or I'm terrified for my Mum. Yet I can't show that and I cry over the silly things because there's this _buildup _inside of fear and sadness inside me and it just takes something tiny for it to overflow. And sometimes it's easier to cry over the little things then let people know you're hurting."

He didn't know what to say. He just listened and wrapped his expert arms around her and let her muffle her sobs in his shirt.

She's mid sentence when he first leans in and kisses her. "I couldn't believe Rick did that, can you? I mean it's not my fault that the stupid wild dog came in and he _knows _that I'm terrified of dogs-" And just like that, he's scooped her in his arms and meshed their lips together. She tastes amazing; like a mix of sugar, lollypops and lemonade and he tastes her quite a lot after that.

Their relationship shatters like that porcelain china doll of hers that Rick accidentally knocked over one time. It's all slow motion and inevitable and well _messy. _

"For the last time, I did _not _cheat on you with Kai!" She's a pretty little mess of red cheeks and stormy eyes as she yells at him. "And like you can even talk! You don't think I don't notice you giving Karen moon eyes every chance you get!"

"Don't you dare pin this on me Poppy!" And it goes on and on and on until the fireworks festival and it just seems so oh_so_ right that their relationship explodes that night. It also feels wrong because Jack really did love the candy haired girl who filled his mouth with sweetness.

They're having one of their 'good' days as Jacks all whispers and sweet nothings and Popuri's all glows and blushes as she soaks up his affection.

And then well, Kai says something inappropriate (_Hey Popuri looking pretty gorgeous tonight.) _and Jack overreacts (_Stay the hell away from my girlfriend or I swear on the Goddess I'll...) _and Popuri shouts at them both before stalking off in a flurry of pinkpinkpink hair.

She comes to him later that night and he knows the words before they escape her mouth. "Jack, I'm done. I can't deal with you and my Mum and Rick." He knows the real reason. It has tanned skin, an exotic accent and eyes to brown for his good.

"Don't question my intelligence; remember I was the only person not to questions yours? I know this is about Kai. Looks like the little girls all grown up now." It comes out as too much of a taunt and it grates against his ears. He regrets it at once.

"Go to hell Jack."

"I'll be seeing you there then."

The stars in their eyes burn and burn with fury before fizzling into matching emptiness and the china coll pieces lay broken and forgotten on the floor.

(iv)

She reads books and writes poems and stories and is shy and bites her lip when she's nervous and is everything Karen isn't (despite them being best friends). He falls for her quicker than he imagined.

"You know what? I can't believe I've never been here before. This place is pretty amazing Mary." He says in an awe that's practically foreign to Mary's ears.

"I'm glad someone appreciates this place. Usually it's just my Mom and Dad and sometimes Gray." Jack contemplates telling her that he doesn't think Grays coming to the library for the books but she looks so pretty with her hair tumbling out of her braid and he realizes he loves the way she's nibbling so delicately on her pen, so he decides he wants her.

They kiss and kiss and Jack brings her flowers and compliments her writing and then they kiss some more. It's not until they've been dating five months that he touches the shiny, tempting buttons on her blouse but it feels wrong and unnatural so he never goes any further.

It turns out they're more tragedy then romance. He knows that there's something wrong because whenever he sees Mary's ebony hair he cranes his head and looks for that shimmer of browngoldblonde hair of her best friend.

"Jack, I love you please know that but..." She doesn't mind changing the ending of their fairytale because Jack's always been her Romeo but she doesn't want to play Juliet anymore. She would much rather play Librarian and Blacksmith but Jack didn't need to know that (even though he does).

"I know Mar, I know." And he _does _know. He's played second best enough to know that the way she looks at Gray like he's _everything _means that he's _nothing. _

He thinks of her sometimes when he can't sleep and imagines her encased in nothing but candle light, scribbling and crossing out words with that half sloppy half irresistible bun and those pen smudges across her cheeks that he used to kiss away. He wonders if she ever writes about their love story; the romance that turned tragedy that was possibly the greatest fiction of them all.

(v)

He promises the fiery haired girl the world because in some lights her blue eyes look almost green and she's so vibrant and makes him feel alive and he loves the way she smiles so of course he wants to make her happy.

"Tell me about the world Jack, tell me _everything." _

And he does and somewhere along the way she falls in love with him and his stories and he just falls for _her _and the way her eyes dance when she's excited and how she tugs her braid when she's impatient.

"So wait, Egypt has the pyramids right?" She asks one day.

"That's right and one day pretty girl I'll show you them." It's an empty promise but he can't help himself and blames those darn dancing eyes that he almost craves.

"And, New York is the city that never sleeps and has all the crazy buildings?" She babbles; hypnotized, enchanted, _entranced_ by the world Jack's painted for her.

"That's right, it's the complete opposite of Mineral Town if you think about it." And she does, oh goddess she thinks about it all the time. She pretends the clouds are cities and that the moon is another world and that they're all at her fingertips _ohso _enticing and if she just reaches a little further and further...

He doesn't like it when Ann thinks about the world more than him so he interrupts her thoughts by kissing her. They kiss the way they are; vibrant, electric and _alive. _

Pink tainted cheeks and pearly smiles she murmurs "What was that for?"

"To remind you that you don't need to search the globe to find something wonderful. I've found everything I've ever wanted right here and under these pretty red locks." He whispers in her ear before claiming her lips again.

He should have known that it was his stories that she fell in love with and not him, he should have know that she fell for the world and the mysterious seas and lands unknown and really, when he thinks about it, she belonged to the world all along.

"I'll come back for you Jack." She promises with a cracking voice but Jack just smiles sadly because he knows it's another empty promise (takes one to know one). That's the curse of Mineral Town, it makes you forget that there is a world out there and he knows sooner or later Ann would forget about the tousled hair farmer who told her stories about the future yet held her like there was no tomorrow. So he just kisses her and tastes her tears and commits the way their lips fit together like puzzle pieces to memory.

He watches her boat disappear against the twinkling cerulean ocean (if he squints really hard it looks like her eyes) and orange splashed sky (the exact same shade of her hair) and wonders how she could have _not _chosen the world over him.

And because he's just a little bit greedy when it comes to the wonderful that is Ann when he goes to sleep at night he dreams fractured broken dreams that they left together.

{_Ten years pass and Elli and Doctor are the first to marry which is no surprise but the real surprise came when the doctor actually proposed to Elli. Popuri and Kai are next and Jack doesn't go to the wedding but he hears that it was magical and perfect and deep down he's secretly glad because Popuri deserves it. Mary and Gray were next and Jack felt no regrets as he stood next to Gray as best man. He thought she was the most beautiful bride he'd seen so far but he didn't tell anyone. Karen and Rick aren't married but rumor was it that he bought a blue feather the other day. Jack chooses not to think about it. And Ann? He doesn't even know if she's still alive but he'd like to think he'd know if she wasn't. He visits the beach on her birthday to look at the ocean to just make sure it still dances like her eyes.}_

(vi)

"Jack, teach me to milk cows properly." She doesn't phrase it as a question, she just so oh so delicately tosses her ebony hair over one shoulder and cocks an eyebrow expectantly. He decides he likes sassy May.

"Now, now respect your elders and say please. I'm not free y'know." He teases, flashing his trade mark smile that borders on flirty.

She tosses her hair again "That's not what Karen said. Or Ann. Or Elli. Or Mary." He decides he _really _likes sassy May despite the fact she just insulted him. She taps her foot and he checks out her legs and he feels like he's in middle school all over again.

"Well?"

"Of course I'll show you May." He's keeping his promises better now and he teaches May despite the fact that she asks stupid questions so he doesn't have to leave so soon and he takes a little longer than necessary to go over points.

It happens too fast for them both to comprehend that _ohmy_ when Jack touches her waist she thinks the electricity might kill her and that Mays lips are little red magnets to his.

She's sitting with him on the edge of the pier in Summer and he can't help but notice how her lips stuck out all pouty and flirty and how that skirt pooled above her knees doesn't hide the fact that her legs seem to go on for miles and miles. So he does what he does best and kisses her.

She tastes like strawberries and innocence and ten years younger and he realizes he likes it, no matter how many shades of twisted it may be. She also tastes like wine but he decides to ignore that and bury it deep in the crevices of his mind.

She's all glowing porcelain skin and sparkling eyes when he pulls away and Jack thinks about Stu and wonders if he'll ever learn.

~fin.

**So I kinda left the ending open ended, because it is primarily story about loss so you can come to the conclusion that May left Jack for Stu because that ties in with the theme. Or maybe he ended up marrying her or Ann did come back. You decide. **

**Also, yes, Jack is a little man-whore.**


End file.
